“Killer of Sheep” left me for dead.

 

 

Film Poster

 

I was able to see Killer of Sheep in both my film class at UWM, and at the UWM Union Theater. Much to my delight, the director Charles Burnett, was in attendance at the Union Theater showing. He stayed after for discussion questions regarding the film. It was quite informative in a useful way.

 Killer of Sheep has a quality about it that reminds me of one of my favorite films,Bicycle Thieves. These two films contain scenes that are seemingly simple, but in each second, various amounts of meaning are being projected through brilliant sequences of scenes. The fact that Killer of Sheep was made with black and white film stock in a time where color was the primary film choice makes one take a second look at this work. Both times that I saw this film I was struck with different memorable scenes, thoughts, and ideas about the film.  

I could not help my being drawn in by the raw style of filmmaking that was soaked Burnett’s documentary-like footage. I thought that this film could be likened to an actual documentary entitled Baghdad In No Particular Order made by Paul Chan. Chan’s film, though a documentary, has moments in which it feels like narrative, but my main point is that several of Killer of Sheep’s documentary-like scenes are shot similar to Chan’s slow, drawn out, personal style of shooting in Baghdad In No Particular Order. Burnett said in the discussion that he was very influenced by old documentaries and also that he knew it was apparent for one to see that in his filmmaking.

Charles Burnett (1977)

Burnett wanted to breakaway from the popular films made about African-Americans that were being released at the time. His style was the epitome of raw. He filmed it using locals for many of the actors, film crew and the sound crew. Many of the scenes seemed as though he just snuck around in a neighborhood, catching everyday life at the film’s current time and place. He said in his discussion that most everything was scripted, but deep  down I believe some of the scenes just had to have been shots of real events. For example, the scene where a young boy cries atop a roof after being hit by other children throwing rocks at him seems to be pure organic footage. The most exceptional acting was from Stan, his family and the many children throughout. The intense scenes involving Stan and his wife are so simple, yet they have such strong emotive qualities. The many scenes with children show the fearless unabashed nature of children that these type of communities have. The childhood innocence was ever apparent even in the midst of wrong doing and misbehaving.

The movie contains great amounts of character. It is like a good album. New things come about with every viewing. I spoke with my girlfriend about it for about an hour, that doesn’t happen much. I plan to periodically watch this film with several of my other friends so that I can discuss it and gather new ideas and develop existing ones. I know many of my ideas about the film are totally foreign to the actual meaning or non-meaning of the film, but that is why art is so wonderful, in that, my interaction is needed for the film to fulfill it’s purpose. There seems to be many hidden meaning, metaphors, and implied statements throughout the film. According to my understanding of Burnett’s discussion, i gathered that he really did things for simple reasons, not looking to far into the meaning or correlation of scenes. It was quite surprising and almost disappointing to hear that much of what I liked was accidental genius, but I am beginning to be alright with it. All in all Killer of Sheep is a incredibly ground-breaking film that I absolutely recommend.